Switching between watches or other accessories

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods and non-transitory computer readable media for allowing a user to switch between wearable items that have been paired or associated with an electronic device, such as a smartphone, are described. In one embodiment, the wearable items automatically detect a removal of a first wearable item from a user&#39;s body and an attachment of a second wearable item to the user&#39;s body. Messages from the wearable items are transmitted to the electronic device to allow the electronic device to switch the active wearable item from the first wearable item to the second wearable item. The switch can occur while the electronic device is in a locked state, and the electronic device can synchronize the second wearable item with data received from the first wearable item. Other embodiments are also described.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/505,345, filed Jul. 8, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/221,200 filed Dec. 14, 2018, now U.S.Pat. No. 10,419,595, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/131,452 filed Sep. 14, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,389,865,which is continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/829,829,filed Dec. 1, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,110,722, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/273,414, filed onSep. 22, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,838,526, which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/276,923, filed on Jan. 10,2016, each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments described herein relate to an accessory for a companionelectronic device, such as a watch or fitness tracker for a smartphone.

Watches and fitness trackers can be paired, typically though Bluetoothwireless communication, with a companion device to provide healthtracking functions and potentially other capabilities. For example, aFitbit device or an Apple Watch can gather health data through one ormore sensors and then transmit this health data to the companion devicewhich can be a data processing system such as a smartphone or tabletcomputer or laptop computer, etc. An Apple Watch can also provide otherfunctions such as notifications of messages, emails, voicemails, etc.and many other functions which can be provided by apps that execute onthe watch.

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

The embodiments described herein allow a user to switch between a set ofaccessories, such as a set of watches that have been paired orassociated with a device, such as a companion electronic device. In oneembodiment, the watches automatically detect a removal of a first watchfrom a user's wrist and an attachment of a second watch to the user'swrist. Messages from the watches are transmitted to the companion deviceto allow the companion device to switch the active watch from the firstwatch to the second watch. This switch can occur while the companiondevice is in a locked state, and the companion device can synchronizethe second watch with data received from the first watch.

One embodiment provides for a non-transitory machine-readable mediumstoring executable program instructions which when executed by a dataprocessing system cause the data processing system to perform aoperations, where the operations comprise receiving, at a companionelectronic device, data from a first wearable device that is paired orotherwise associated with the companion device, the first paired orassociated device being the active device when the data is received;storing the received data in a first store of the companion device,wherein once the data is stored in the first store, the data cannot beaccessed when the companion device is locked; and storing the receiveddata in a second store of the companion device, the received data in thesecond store for use in synchronizing a second paired device with thecompanion device when the second paired device becomes the active paireddevice and the first paired device is no longer the active paireddevice.

One embodiment provides for a data processing system comprising anon-transitory machine readable medium to store instructions and one ormore processors to execute the instructions. The instructions cause theone or more processors to receive, at a companion electronic device,data from a first wearable device that is paired or otherwise associatedwith the companion device, wherein the first paired device is the activepaired device when the data is received; store the received data in afirst store of the companion device, wherein once the data is stored inthe first store, the data cannot be accessed when the companion deviceis locked; and store the received data in a second store of thecompanion device, the received data in the second store for use tosynchronize a second paired device with the companion device when thesecond paired device becomes the active paired device and the firstpaired device is no longer the active paired device.

The embodiments described herein can include companion devices,accessory devices, and wearable items, such as watches, GPS trackers,fitness trackers, glasses, head mounted displays, heart monitors, healthsensors, glucose monitors, or audio accessories, as well as jewelry,shoes, or clothing. The companion devices can be electronic devices,such as a smartphone, tablet computer, or another consumer electronicdevice. The companion devices can also include or be registered to auser account that is associated with the user account of the multiplewearable items. For example, the user account of the companion devicecan be part of a family or group of user accounts that includes the useraccount to which the wearable items are associated. The methodsdescribed herein can be implemented by one or more data processingsystems which execute executable instructions, stored on one or morenon-transitory machine-readable media, that cause the one or more dataprocessing systems to perform one or more of the methods describedherein. Thus, the embodiments described herein include data processingsystems, methods, and non-transitory machine-readable media.

The above summary does not include an exhaustive list of all embodimentsin this disclosure. All systems and methods can be practiced from allsuitable combinations of the various aspects and embodiments summarizedabove, and also those disclosed in the Detailed Description below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a set of devices which includes the companiondevice and two paired watches, one of which is active and the otherwhich is inactive.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an accessory for acompanion device, such as a watch.

FIG. 3 shows a set of paired watches which communicate with a companiondevice to allow the companion device to perform a switch between thewatches.

FIG. 4 is a diagram which shows different states over time as thecompanion device switches between watches in response to removal of onewatch and attachment of another.

FIG. 5A is a flowchart which illustrates a method which can be performedby a companion device according to one or more embodiments describedherein.

FIG. 5B is a flowchart which illustrates a method which can be performedby an accessory, such as a paired watch, according to one or moreembodiments described herein.

FIG. 6 is a truth table which can be used to implement the switchinglogic performed by a companion device according to one or moreembodiments described herein.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart which illustrates a method which can be performedby a companion device according to one or more embodiments describedherein for switching between paired accessories, such as paired watches.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a user interface which can be displayed to auser to allow the user to select between different modes for switchingbetween paired accessories, such as paired watches.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart which illustrates a method which can be performedby a companion device during the switch between paired accessories suchas paired watches.

FIG. 10 shows an example of how a companion device can perform one ormore methods for storing synchronization data from a first watch andusing that stored data to synchronize with the second watch even if thecompanion device and the second watch are both locked.

FIG. 11 shows a flowchart that illustrates a method performed by acompanion device according to one or more embodiments relating to FIG.10.

FIG. 12 shows an example of some of the components of a companion devicewhich can be used to filter out Bluetooth advertisements according toone embodiment described herein.

FIG. 13 shows an example of how filter logic can be configured in theBluetooth controller of FIG. 12 according to one embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an example of a data processing systemthat can be used to implement or perform one or more embodimentsdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments and aspects will be described with reference todetails discussed below, and the accompanying drawings will illustratethe various embodiments. The following description and drawings areillustrative and are not to be construed as limiting. Numerous specificdetails are described to provide a thorough understanding of variousembodiments. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventionaldetails are not described in order to provide a concise discussion ofembodiments.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin conjunction with the embodiment can be included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification do not necessarily all refer to the sameembodiment. The processes depicted in the figures that follow areperformed by processing logic that comprises hardware (e.g. circuitry,dedicated logic, etc.), software, or a combination of both. Although theprocesses are described below in terms of some sequential operations, itshould be appreciated that some of the operations described may beperformed in a different order. Moreover, some operations may beperformed in parallel rather than sequentially.

The embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods forswitching between accessories of a companion device, where theaccessories can be, for example, paired watches that have been pairedwith the companion device to allow for wireless communication such aswireless communication through Bluetooth. It will be appreciated thatthe accessories may be watches or other devices, such as GPS trackers,fitness trackers, glasses (e.g., virtual reality head mounted displays),jewelry, shoes or clothes or other wearable items, heart monitor, healthsensor, glucose monitor, audio accessory (e.g., headphone or earphone)and other accessories that can operate with a companion device. Thus,even though the following description focuses on watches, theembodiments can include other types of accessories, and a switch canoccur between different types of accessories (e.g., a switch between awatch and a head mounted display).

FIG. 1 shows a companion device 12 which can be paired with a pluralityof accessories, such as the watches 14 and 16. The pairing process canbe a conventional Bluetooth pairing operation as is known in the art.The companion device 12 can be a smartphone or a tablet computer or alaptop computer or other consumer electronic device that can be pairedwith the multiple accessories. The companion device can also include orbe registered to a user account that is associated with the user accountof the multiple wearable items. For example, the user account of thecompanion device can be part of a family or group of user accounts thatincludes the user account to which the accessories are associated. Asshown in FIG. 1, the watch 14 is being worn by the user and is currentlyon the user's wrist 10. The watch 16 and the companion device 12 can beboth near the user. For example, the companion device 12 can be in theuser's shirt pocket or next to the user. Similarly, the watch 16, whichincludes straps 17A and 17B to attach to the user's wrist, can beadjacent to the user. The proximity of the devices allows the Bluetoothradio systems which are used in one embodiment to communicate as allthree devices are within Bluetooth range of each other. In oneembodiment, the user can have the companion device 12 in a pocket orbriefcase or purse or on a desk while the user removes the watch 14 andplaces the watch 16 on the wrist 10. As is described further below, thewatches 14 and 16 can be transmitting signals that indicate on-wristconfidence levels to the companion device which can then decide that thewatches have been switched so that the watch 16 should now be made theactive watch and the watch 14, which was the active watch while it wason-wrist, will now be made the inactive watch. Before describing furtherdetails about the various embodiments discussed herein, an overview ofthe hardware of an accessory, such as a watch, will be provided inconjunction with FIG. 2.

The watch 201 in FIG. 2 can include one or more processors 203 which arecoupled through one or more buses 204 as is known in the art to the restof the components of the watch. Those additional components can includeone or more sensors 206, a touch screen display 205 which both displaysimages to the user and also can receive touch inputs on the screen ofthe display as is known in the art. In addition, the watch 201 caninclude a Bluetooth radio system 207 and a WiFi radio system 208. Thewatch 201 also includes one or more memories 210 which can include flashmemory, DRAM memory and ROM memory as is known in the art. Thesememories can store data, such as wrist states and also store executablecomputer program instructions which can cause the watch to operate asdescribed herein. In addition, the watch 201 can include audioinput/output 209 such as a microphone and one or more speakers. Thesensors 206 can include one or more accelerometers or motion detectorsor orientation detectors or other sensors which can sense when a wristis raised or lowered. The sensors 206 can also include sensors thatsense a proximity to a wrist or sense reflections from a wrist, such asLED based sensors that generate LED light and then sense reflected LEDlight that has been reflected by the wrist's skin. These sensors can beused as described herein to determine the on-wrist state or on-wristconfidence level which then can be transmitted to a companion device,such as the companion device 12 shown in FIG. 1. It will be appreciatedthat other types of sensors can also (or alternatively) be used such asa sensor in a buckle; see for example published PCT ApplicationPCT/US2014/01451 (International Publication No. WO 2015/116163). Thewatch 201 can represent the hardware and software architecture ofwatches 14 and 16 in FIG. 1 or watches 251 and 253 shown in FIG. 3.Similarly, the watch 201 shown in FIG. 2 can be used to implement thewatches 403 and 405 in FIG. 4 and the watches 1010 and 1012 in FIG. 10.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a set of devices 250 can include a companiondevice 255, a watch 251, and a watch 253. The watch 251 is the currentlyactive paired watch while the watch 253 is the inactive paired watch.The active paired watch is shown on the user's wrist 2 while theinactive paired watch may be in the user's purse or pocket or on a tablenext to the user. A companion device 255 may be in the user's pocket orpurse or briefcase or near the user on a table which is near the user.In the example shown in FIG. 3, the watches 251 and 253 are within radiorange for the Bluetooth systems that are contained within each of thewatches 251 and 253 and also within the companion device 255. In oneembodiment, the companion device 255 can be a smartphone or otherconsumer electronic device. While the watch 251 is within Bluetoothradio range of companion device 255, the watch 251 can repeatedlytransmit one or more wrist state values indicating an on-wristconfidence level of the watch 251. These transmissions can occur usingan encrypted communication protocol which operates on top of theBluetooth communication system and utilizes the Bluetooth communicationsystem. While the watch 253 is within Bluetooth radio range of thecompanion device 255, one or more wrist state values can be transmittedby the watch 253. In one embodiment, these transmissions can occurthrough Bluetooth advertisements which can include an advertisingidentifier as well as the wrist state value determined by the watch 253based upon data from the one or more sensors in watch 253, such as oneor more sensors 206. In one embodiment, the companion device (e.g.companion device 255) can be paired with many other devices (such asBluetooth speakers, Bluetooth earphones, Bluetooth keyboards, etc.) inaddition to being paired with two watches (such as watches 251 and 253).It will be understood that the companion device is configured to performone or more methods described herein for the two watches while thecompanion device does not perform these methods for the other paireddevices that are not configured to switch (and synchronize) in themanner described herein.

FIG. 13 provides an example of wrist state values. In that example, thewrist state can have four possible values shown as zero, low, medium,and high. Zero represents a state in which the sensors provide outputsfrom which the watch determines that it is not on the user's wrist. Thelow value indicates a low on-wrist confidence level. The medium valueindicates a medium on-wrist confidence level, and the high valueindicates a high on-wrist confidence values. In an alternativeembodiment, fewer or more values can be used to indicate on-wristconfidence levels. For example, in one embodiment, if wrist detection(such as operations 521 and 523 in FIG. 5B) is disabled on an accessory,the accessory can set its wrist state to a medium high level that isbetween the medium and high confidence levels. When wrist detection isdisabled on the accessory, the accessory does not attempt to determinewhether it is on-wrist, and the sensors described herein are not used toperform wrist detection. In one embodiment, when the accessory sets itsstate to medium high, the accessory prevents any elevation to the highconfidence level (in order to prevent its state from being locked in thehigh confidence level). In one embodiment, if multiple accessories havetheir wrist detection disabled and are in Bluetooth radio range of thecompanion device, the companion device will keep active whichever one ithas designated as active as long as that accessory remains in radiorange and when it leaves radio range the companion device will switch toa next accessory in radio range and having the oldest medium high level.In one embodiment, a user can trigger a manual switch through a userinterface on the companion device (even if the automatic option 803 inFIG. 8 is selected) if any of the paired accessories has wrist detectiondisabled; this would allow a user to trigger a switch if the automaticswitching methods described herein fail when wrist detection isdisabled. In one embodiment, manual switching is blocked when theautomatic option 803 is selected and all paired watches have wristdetection enabled.

In one embodiment, a combination of data from different sensors can beused to derive the on-wrist confidence level. In one embodiment, datafrom an accelerometer may indicate the raising or lowering of a wristand data from sensors to detect reflected or absorbed light from theuser's skin (or other body part) on the user's wrist can be combinedtogether to derive the different wrist states such as the four wriststates shown in FIG. 13. It will be appreciated that other types ofsensors may also be used either alone or in combination. For example, aclasp detector (e.g. a detector on the watch's buckle) or detectors usedto detect a pulse or heart rate can also be used.

While this description focuses on watches attached to (or removed from)wrists, in one other embodiments the phrase “wrist states” is generallymeant to refer to a state of a position of an accessory (e.g., a headmounted display) relative to a body of a user of a companion device.Thus, the phrase “wrist state” can also include states that indicate aconfidence level of being on head (or off head), etc.

The wrist state value can be computed in a variety of different waysbased upon one or more outputs from one or more sensors such as sensors206 in FIG. 2. In one embodiment that uses one or more sensors (e.g. anaccelerometer) to detect the raising and lowering of the wrist and alsouses one or more sensors to detect radiation reflected off of (orabsorbed by) the wrist, such as the wrist's skin (which can be referredto as a wrist detection by a wrist detector sensor), the wrist statevalue can be derived as follows. This approach uses a combination ofsensors that repeatedly over time produce outputs and these outputs areused to determine the wrist state value. When the accelerometer detectsthe raising or lowering of the wrist after the wrist detector senses thewrist's skin (or other body part such as blood) then the wrist statevalue is set to high. When the wrist detector senses the wrist's skin(or other part) but the accelerometer has not detected a wrist raised orlowered in a period of time (for example, the last 6 seconds), then thewrist state value is set to medium. When the accelerometer detects awrist raise or lowering which occurred in the last period of time, suchas the last 6 seconds, but the wrist detector does not sense the skin(or other body part) of the wrist, then the wrist state value is set tolow. The value of zero for the wrist state is set if the accelerometerdoes not detect a wrist raise or lower in the last period of time, suchas the last 6 seconds and the wrist detector does not sense the wrist'sskin (or other body part). These wrist values can be repeatedlydetermined over time and will most likely change if the user removes oneon-wrist watch and replaces it with another. In one embodiment, anadditional wrist state value may be provided based upon a detected touchof the watch's touch screen or other detected user interaction with thewatch. If this detection (e.g. of a finger on the touch screen) occursin combination with the detections that produced the high wrist statevalue then the system can produce this additional wrist state valuewhich can be characterized as extra high. It will also be appreciatedthat in other embodiments, “gestures” or wrist movements other thanraising or lowering can be used such as shaking or twisting of thewrist, etc.

In one embodiment, the companion device, such as companion device 255can repeatedly over time scan for wrist state values from at leastinactive paired watches, in addition to receiving wrist state valuesfrom the active paired watch. In one embodiment, the companion devicemay not always scan for watches; for example, in one embodiment, if thewrist state value for the active watch is continually high indicatingthe watch has a high on-wrist confidence level, the companion device maynot scan for other watches. In particular, the companion device can beconfigured to scan when the active watch is connected as the activewatch with the medium or lower confidence level, but if the active watchis connected with higher than a medium confidence level then thecompanion device may be configured to not scan for multiple watches.This can help to conserve battery power on the companion device if thecompanion device is powered by a battery.

FIG. 4 shows a series of states which occur over time as a user switchesfrom a first watch to a second watch using one or more of theembodiments described herein. In state 1, the companion device 401 is asmartphone which is currently in a locked state. The companion device401 can receive wrist state values from watch 405 (the second watch)which is not being worn and therefore is inactive. These wrist statevalues can in one embodiment be sent through Bluetooth advertisementswhich are known in the art and which are shown as Bluetoothadvertisements 409. These advertisements can be received by thecompanion device 401 when the device scans for Bluetooth advertisementsfrom the inactive watches. The active watch, which is watch 403 (watch1), can have an encrypted communication protocol channel set up toprovide data back and forth between the watch 403 and the companiondevice 401. For example, synchronization data 407 may be transmittedbetween the devices in either direction through this channel. In oneembodiment, health synchronization data can be transmitted from watch403 to the companion device 401 as part of the synchronization data 407even when the companion device 401 is locked. The locked state normallyrequires a user's security input to unlock the device to allow thedevice to receive further user input. When the device is locked, thedevice expects the user's security input and if it does not receive it,it will continue to remain in the locked state preventing the user fromusing the companion device (although in some embodiments certain limitedactions such as making an emergency phone call or using a camera may bepermitted while in the locked state). In one embodiment, the user'ssecurity input is any one of: a password; a numeric passcode; a twodimensional gesture on a touchscreen of the companion device; abiometric input such as a fingerprint, voice input from the user, retinascan of the user's eye, or an image, such as an image of the user'sface. In one embodiment, the user's security input can be a combinationof two or more of: a password; a numeric passcode; a gesture on atouchscreen; or a biometric input. As is known in the art, companiondevices can be set up so that after a period of time of inactivity onthe device, the device will automatically become locked and enter a lowpower state while it is locked. For example, when a smartphone is placedin a user's pocket or purse, after a period of time, the smartphone canbe configured to enter the locked state and also enter reduced powerstate as is known in the art. It will be appreciated that embodimentsdescribed herein can also work when the companion device is unlockedeven though in all instances shown in FIG. 4 the companion deviceremains locked throughout the different states shown in FIG. 4.

State 2 of FIG. 4 shows that the user has removed watch 1 (watch 403)and has attached watch 405 to the user's wrist. The sensors on each ofthe watches can determine the removal and attachment from outputs of thesensors and provide the different wrist state values to the companiondevice 401. In state 1, watch 403 would normally have a high on-wristconfidence level shown by its wrist state values while watch 405 wouldhave a lower on-wrist confidence level shown by its wrist state valueswhich are transmitted to the companion device 401. In state 2, watch 405begins to transmit higher on-wrist confidence levels than watch 403.After a short period of time, the companion device 401 can determinefrom the change in on-wrist confidence levels that watch 405 has beenattached and watch 403 has been removed. In response, the companiondevice 401 can begin the operation of switching the watchesautomatically without requiring any user input other than physicallyremoving one watch and attaching the other. In one embodiment, prior toinitiating the switch or concurrently with initiating the switch, thecompanion device 401 provides a last chance opportunity for watch 403 toprovide synchronization data from the watch 403 to the companion device.In one embodiment, this data can include health data not previouslytransmitted to the companion device 401 so that the companion device 401can store the latest available health data from watch 403 which can thenbe made available to the new active watch which in this case is watch405. One way in which this new data (e.g. latest or near latestavailable health data) can be made available to the watch 405 is throughside store synchronization 412 shown in state 3 and which is describedfurther below. The roles of the watches have now been changed (in state3) and now watch 403 begins to transmit its wrist state values throughBluetooth advertisements 411 and the companion device 401 can receivethose advertisements when it scans for Bluetooth advertisements.

This switch between watches can occur, in one embodiment, while thecompanion device is locked and in a sleep state (e.g. the touchscreendisplay is off) and while both watches are locked and in a sleep state.This switch between watches causes the two watches to operatedifferently. The inactive watch can become locked and stop collectinghealth data and enter a sleep state and no longer provide accessoryfunctionality (e.g. notifications) after the switch (or during theswitch). The active watch can now use the established (encrypted)communication channel to provide accessory functionality such asnotifications to the user and collect and transmit health data to thecompanion device. Moreover, apps on the new active watch can be used bythe user (while apps on the inactive watch will not be used by theuser).

FIG. 5A shows a method which can be performed by a companion deviceaccording to one or more embodiments described herein. This companiondevice can be a companion device 12 or 225 or 401 which can also performthe methods shown in FIGS. 7 and 9 in one embodiment. As shown inoperation 501, the companion device can receive one or more wrist statesfrom one or more inactive paired watches and also receive one or morewrist states from the active paired watch. The transmissions from theinactive paired watches may be Bluetooth advertisements which includeone or more wrist state values in the payload of those advertisements,and the wrist state values from the active paired watch may be providedthrough an encrypted communication protocol implemented on top of theBluetooth connection. Concurrently with receiving the wrist states fromthe active paired watch, the companion device may also receive healthdata or other data from the active paired watch, and this data can bestored in one or more synchronization databases as is described furtherbelow. During operation 501, the active paired watch and the companiondevice can operate as is known in the art. For example, phone calls maybe received in the companion device if the companion device is asmartphone and the watch can provide notifications of emails,voicemails, text messages, and other prompts to the user. In addition,those devices can receive user inputs through, for example a touchscreenor the user's voice to cause each device to perform operations basedupon the executing programs in each of the devices. In one embodiment,it is assumed that the currently active paired watch is periodicallyproviding data for purposes of synchronization, and particularly forpurposes of synchronizing health data for use by currently inactivewatches which could become active at some point in the future.

In operation 503, the companion device determines that the first pairedwatch has been removed and determines that the second paired watch hasbeen attached to the user's wrist. In one embodiment, this can bedetermined by comparing the on-wrist confidence levels of the twowatches, where each on-wrist confidence level is based on the mostrecent wrist state values received from each watch by the companiondevice. A companion device may be configured (for example by software)to implement the truth table shown in FIG. 6. The table 601 shown inFIG. 6 has entries 603, 605, 607, 609, 611, and 613 which indicatewhether or not to switch between the watches depending upon on-wristconfidence levels received from the watches. The entries 603 and 609 aresituations where the wrist state values are identical and a tie hasoccurred for the two watches. In addition, the truth table 601 alsotakes into account whether or not the current active watch (“selectedwatch”) is within range of the companion device.

In one alternative embodiment, a watch may be configured to temporarilyspoof its wrist state value if it is in active communication which ispart of a synchronization process or some other process. In particular,the active paired watch may be configured to send to the companiondevice a high wrist state value for a predetermined short period of time(even if it has detected removal and its true wrist state value ismedium or low or zero) if the active paired watch is in the process ofactive synchronization or other designated process which is provided theprivilege of additional time to complete the communication prior toswitching to the currently active paired watch to an inactive status.

In operation 505, the companion device initiates the switch of theactive watch. In one embodiment, the companion device can delay theconnection switch to allow a last chance synchronization of health dataor other data with the first paired watch. FIG. 7 provides an example ofa particular embodiment in which the switch is performed by a set ofsoftware components on the companion device.

In operation 507, the companion device can then transmit data to the newactive paired watch, and this data can include data obtained from thesynchronization with the first watch, such as health data transmittedduring the last chance synchronization (e.g., last chancesynchronization 410 shown in FIG. 4). The transmission of this data inoperation 507 can in one embodiment be performed even when the companiondevice is locked so that the newly active paired watch can receive allof the most recent data from the prior active watch, including healthdata while the companion device remains locked. Moreover, in oneembodiment, the second paired watch (the newly active paired watch) inoperation 507 can receive the transmitted data while that watch is alsoin a locked state, which is similar to the locked state of the companiondevice in that the user's security input is required on the watch tounlock the watch.

FIG. 5B shows a method which can be performed by a paired watch which isinitially an inactive watch and then becomes the active watch after aswitch. Thus, the method shown in FIG. 5B can be performed by the watch405 shown in FIG. 4. In operation 521, the inactive watch can collectdata from one or more sensors on the watch such as one or moreaccelerometers and one or more LED sensors which sense radiationreflected from the wrist's skin (or other body part). Then in operation523, the watch determines the wrist state from the data collected fromthe sensors, and then transmits that wrist state in operation 525 in oneor more Bluetooth advertisements to the watch's paired companion device.The Bluetooth advertisements can include the wrist state as a payload inthe Bluetooth advertisement and the Bluetooth advertisement can have arotating advertising identifier which is shared with all of the pairedwatches which have been paired with the companion device. The rotatingof the advertising identifier is a process known in the art and each ofthe watches and the companion device are configured to rotate throughthe advertising identifiers in a known sequence with predetermined timesat which the identifiers change.

At some point between operation 525 and operation 527 the companiondevice decides that the user has removed the active watch and replacedit with the inactive watch. For example, the companion device performsoperation 503 between operations 525 and 527. In turn, the companiondevice transmits a request which is received by the watch in operation527, and this is a request to establish active encrypted communicationon Bluetooth with the companion device. After operation 527 establishesan active encrypted communication channel with the new active pairedwatch, then the watch can receive data in operation 529 from thecompanion device where the data originated from the prior active watch.For example, this data can include health data or other data providedduring synchronization including, for example, the last chancesynchronization such as last chance synchronization 410 shown in FIG. 4.In one embodiment, after operation 529, data for applications other thana health application can be synchronized in operation 531, and furtherdetails about the synchronization are provided in connection withoperation 713 of FIG. 7. It will be understood that the word “app” is anabbreviation of application which is a form of a software program.

Referring now to FIG. 7, the companion device can implement a specificmethod using various software components on the companion device tocause the switch to occur. This method can begin in operation 701 inwhich the companion device decides to switch the active watch. This canbe similar to the operation 503 of FIG. 5A. In response to this decisiona launcher process can stop all watch daemons for all paired watches andlock them from starting again. In one embodiment, the process launchercan be the software component known as launched which is in the OS X andiOS operating systems from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. A switchsequencer software component in operation 705 can then send anotification that a switch will occur to software that is not watchspecific. Then in operation 707 a transport layer is instructed toswitch by the switch sequencer, and in operation 709, the switchsequencer notifies the process launcher to unlock the watch daemonsafter an encrypted communication channel has been established with thenew active watch and the prior encrypted communication channel with theprior active watch has been torn down. Then in operation 711, the switchsequencer sends out notifications that the new watch is now the activewatch. A synchronization coordinator in operation 713 receives thatnotification and then can start up the unlocked watch daemons as clientsof a synchronization controller such as a paired sync software componentthat can control when and how, in an ordered sequence, a series of appsare allowed to synchronize their data between the companion device andthe new active paired watch. By using a sync controller to controlsynchronization, the synchronization process can be managed so thatthere is an orderly process that prevents every app from attempting tosynchronize immediately, thereby affecting the usability of the watch orthe companion device.

FIG. 9 shows a method according to one embodiment which attempts toprevent a race condition between two watches which could cause thecompanion device to switch quickly and repeatedly between two watches.The method shown in FIG. 9 can be performed in conjunction with themethod shown in FIG. 5A. In operation 901, the companion device receivesone or more wrist states from watches and determines, based on thosewrist states, to switch to another watch, such as a switch from a firstwatch to a second watch. In one embodiment, the wrist states can beincluded in Bluetooth advertisements from the watches. In operation 903,the companion device triggers the switch to the new watch, and inoperation 905, the companion device starts a timer, when it triggers theswitch and stops scanning for Bluetooth advertisements. In oneembodiment, the timer can count down from 10 seconds such that itbecomes a 10 second timer which expires after 10 seconds from starting.Then in operation 907, the companion device determines whether the newwatch has successfully connected and has communicated its wrist statebefore the timer expires. If the companion device determines fromoperation 907 that the new watch has not successfully connected andcommunicated its wrist state before the expiration of the timer, thenthe companion device performs operation 909 in which it stops the timerand starts scanning again for Bluetooth advertisements. Operation 909,in one embodiment, assumes that the new watch has been disconnected oris not on-wrist but it will be still treated as the active watch forpurposes of future processes in which the companion device attempts todetermine which watch is active. If operation 907 determines that thenew watch has connected successfully and has communicated its wriststate before the timer expired then operation 910 follows in which thecompanion device stops the timer and starts scanning for Bluetoothadvertisements again but in this case the new watch is treated as theactive watch. Both of operations 909 and 910 can cause the companiondevice to repeat back to operation 901 to continue a process to monitorthe watches.

While the companion device performs the methods described herein (suchas those methods shown in FIGS. 5A, 7 and 9), an accessory can operatewith different levels of advertising (such as aggressive levels whichare more frequent than non-aggressive levels), and switching betweenthese different levels over time on the accessory can conserve power onthe accessory. For example, in one embodiment, an accessory canadvertise aggressively only when its application processor (such as oneof the processors 203 that execute user applications that displaycontent on the touch screen display 205) is awake and can advertisenon-aggressively when its application processor is asleep; in oneembodiment the non-aggressive advertising can be further limited tooccur only when its application processor is asleep and the accessoryhas information that indicates the companion device is paired withmultiple switching accessories (in a group of accessories that performautomatic switching and synchronization as a result of the automaticswitching). This information about paired accessories is normallymaintained on the companion device and can be transmitted to each pairedaccessory when the accessory becomes the active accessory; the accessorycan use this information to determine whether to non-aggressivelyadvertise when its application is asleep. If the accessory determinesthat the information indicates that the accessory is one of multipleswitching accessories (that are grouped in a group of accessories thatcan switch between themselves and synchronize data among them throughthe companion device) and determines that its application processor isasleep then the accessory can non-aggressively advertise for a period oftime such as a predetermined period (e.g. at least 5 minutes but lessthan 8 minutes). In one embodiment, an accessory such as a watch cancycle through aggressive and non-aggressive advertising by beginningwith aggressive advertising in response to the application processor(AP) becoming awake (e.g. in response to a wrist raise movement that issensed by sensors on the accessory which cause the AP to awake from asleep, low power state) and then transiting to non-aggressiveadvertising in response to the earlier to occur of: the AP goes back toa sleep state or a period of time (such as a predetermined period of 4seconds) has elapsed since the accessory began aggressively advertising,and then the accessory can continue non-aggressively advertising for aperiod of time and stop after the period of time (or transition toaggressive advertising if the AP awakes from a sleep state). The timesused in the timers can be varied to achieve desired results. Forexample, shorter times which limit power consumed can be balancedagainst a desire to detect switches when they occur (for an improveduser experience), and shorter times also improve user privacy as itbecomes harder for an attacker to track a user.

In one embodiment, a companion device and its set of paired watches canperform the methods described herein for switching between the watcheswithout any user input or user action other than the user physicallyremoving one watch and attaching another while both watches are withinBluetooth radio range (or range of other wireless communication system)of the companion device. In other words, the process can beautomatically performed by the set of devices without an explicit inputfrom the user that a switch of watches is supposed to occur. Moreover,the switch can occur while the companion device is locked and while oneor both of the paired watches are locked. In an alternative embodiment,the companion device may allow the user to select between eitherautomatic switching of watches or manual switching of watches. Thisselection may be provided to the user through a graphical user interfacewhich is displayed on a touchscreen of the companion device or atouchscreen of a paired watch which is active or both. FIG. 8 shows anexample of a graphical user interface 801 which can be displayed on atouchscreen of a companion device or watch. The user interface caninclude mutually exclusive options automatic 803 and manual 805. Theuser can select one of the two options or modes by, for example,touching one of the two options such as an automatic option 803 (whichcan use the methods shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B) or manual option 805. Inthe example shown in FIG. 8, the user or the system has selected option803 as shown by the dot 804 within the circle of option 803. If the usertouches the manual option 805, then the dot would appear in the circlefor manual and would not appear in the circle for automatic option 803.If the user selects manual operation, then a separate user interface canbe provided to allow the user to initiate and complete a switch betweenwatches (rather than an automatic process performed by watches and acompanion device without requiring user input).

In one embodiment, when automatic option 803 is selected the companiondevice can scan for accessories and perform the methods shown in FIGS.5A, 7 and 9. When the manual option 805 is selected the companion devicecan stop scanning for accessories although the accessories can continueto advertise their identifiers so that a user can manually switchbetween the accessories.

FIGS. 10 and 11 show another aspect of the embodiments described hereinin which a side store database is used to synchronize a new active watchwith data, such as health data, from a prior active watch. In oneembodiment, this synchronization can occur even if a companion device islocked during the switch between the watches. FIG. 10 shows a portion ofa companion device 1001, and in particular shows the non-volatile(persistent) storage 1003 of the companion device 1001. In oneembodiment, the non-volatile storage 1003 can be flash memory of asmartphone which stores the operating system and platform applicationsand data of the smartphone. The storage 1003 can also store two separatedatabases for use with one or more embodiments described herein. Inparticular, database 1005 is a restricted access database storingsensitive data, such as health data of the user. The health data can begenerated by each of the user's watches and provided to the database1005 during synchronization operations, for example as part of thesynchronization data 407 shown in FIG. 4. In addition, the last chancesynchronization, such as last chance synchronization 410 shown in FIG. 4can also result in the storage of health data in the database 1005. Oncedata is stored in the database 1005, the data cannot be accessed whenthe companion device is locked. This can be achieved by discarding thekeys stored in DRAM, which keys are used to decrypt the data stored indatabase 1005. A database 1007 can also be used and stored on storage1003. This database 1007 represents a side store database containingdata which can be used to synchronize inactive watches in the futurewhen those inactive watches become the active watch. In one embodiment,the database 1007 can be used by a transport layer software componentthat establishes the encrypted communication protocol over Bluetoothbetween the active paired watch and the companion device.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a method which can be performed with thecompanion device 1001 and the watches 1010 and 1012 shown in FIG. 10. Inoperation 1101, the companion device can receive data from a firstpaired watch, such as watch 1010 that is paired with the companiondevice, such as companion device 1001, where the first paired watch isthe current active watch. Thus, watch 1010 is initially the currentactive watch and provides data from that watch for purposes ofsynchronization with the companion device and with inactive watcheswhich may become active in the future. The received data can be storedin operation 1103 in a first store which can be a restricted accessdatabase, such as the database 1005. In the example shown in FIG. 10,the received data stored in operation 1103 can be data 1015 stored inthe database 1005. Once data 1015 is stored in database 1005, it cannotbe accessed while the companion device is locked. In one embodiment,data 1015 can be stored in the database 1005 while the companion deviceis locked while in another embodiment it can remain in DRAM in anencrypted state. At or around the same time that the data 1015 is storedin the database 1005, data 1017 is stored in the side store database1007 for use in synchronizing currently inactive watches which maybecome the active watch in the future, such as watch 1012. This is shownas operation 1105 in FIG. 11 in which the received data is stored in asecond store, which in this case is database 1007 for use insynchronizing currently inactive paired watches once they become theactive watch. In one embodiment, data 1017 can be encrypted with apublic key of each of the inactive watches, and this encrypted data canbe decrypted by the inactive watch using the private key of the inactivewatch, such as watch 1012. In this case an asymmetric cryptographic keysystem can be used such as the well known public key/private keyencryption and decryption methods. In an alternative embodiment the data1017 can be encrypted with a symmetric key and the symmetric key isencrypted with the public key of each of the inactive watches; in thisalternative embodiment, the data 1017 includes both the encryptedsymmetric key (which was encrypted with the inactive watch's public key)and the encrypted data (e.g. health data from active watch which wasencrypted with the symmetric key) while the data 1015 does not need toinclude the encrypted symmetric key (which was encrypted with theinactive watch's public key). If there are multiple inactive watches,then the data 1017 in the side store will include the encrypted data(encrypted by the symmetric key) and the encrypted symmetric key foreach inactive watch. In one embodiment, the storage of data 1017 in thedatabase 1007 can occur while the companion device is locked, and thisdatabase provides a mechanism to provide updated synchronizationinformation, such as updated health information or health data to watch1012 after it becomes the active paired watch. This is shown inoperation 1107 in which at least a portion of the data in the secondstore, such as data 1017 is transmitted to the second paired watch inresponse to the second paired watch becoming the active paired watch,and this transmission can be performed while the companion deviceremains locked and even while the second paired watch is locked. This isalso shown in FIG. 4 in which the side store synchronization 412 isperformed for watch 405 which has become the active watch.

In one embodiment, the new active watch can decrypt the portion of thedata that it received from the side store in response to unlocking thenewly made active watch, such as watch 1012. In one embodiment, the newactive watch uses its private key (which is paired with the public keyused to encrypt the symmetric key) to obtain the symmetric key and thencan decrypt the data using the symmetric key. It will be appreciatedthat watches 1010 and 1012 can be similar to watches 403 and 405 andthey progress through the states shown in FIG. 4. Thus, watches 1010 and1012 can transmit their wrist state values which can cause the companiondevice 1001 to decide to switch from watch 1010 as the active watch towatch 1012 as the next active watch. In one embodiment, the data 1017,which can include health data, may not include synchronization anchorswhile the data in database 1005 does include synchronization anchorswhich can be used in the synchronization processes that are known in theart. In this case, when the companion device becomes unlocked from thelocked state, the data in the database 1007 which represents a sidestore for future synchronizations with inactive watches can be updatedwith the synchronization anchors from database 1005 so that they can beused for synchronizing inactive watches in the future. The companiondevice can be unlocked by receiving the user's security input as hasbeen described herein.

Another aspect of the embodiments described herein is shown in FIGS. 12and 13. In this aspect, a companion device shown in FIG. 12 canimplement a filter using hardware or a combination of hardware andsoftware to provide a filter logic that filters out messages from thewatches, such as the wrist state values and the advertising identifiervalues contained in the radio signals. This filtering out process canprevent one or more application processors from waking up from a sleepstate which can conserve battery power. Additionally, the one or moreapplication processors may enter a sleep state when the companion deviceis locked and these one or more application processors can be the mainprocessors of the companion device and can execute the operating systemsoftware and the user applications that present content to the user andreceive user inputs through a touchscreen input of the companion device.The companion device shown in FIG. 12 can be the companion device 401 orthe companion device 255; further, the companion device shown in FIG. 12can perform the method shown in FIG. 5 as well as the methods shown inFIGS. 7 and 9 to allow for automatic and seamless switching between aset of paired watches or other paired accessories. Moreover, thecompanion device shown in FIG. 12 can use the method of FIG. 11 inconjunction with the storage architecture shown in FIG. 10 to allow forthe use of a side store to provide for side store synchronization, suchas side store synchronization 412 shown in FIG. 4. It will beappreciated that the companion device shown in FIG. 12 is shown withonly some of its components in a typical implementation. In particular,one or more application processors 1201 is coupled to memory 1203through one or more buses 1211. In addition, a Bluetooth radio system1205 is coupled to the remainder of the system through one or more buses1211. In addition, the companion device shown in FIG. 12 can alsoinclude a WiFi transceiver, and a cellular telephone transceiver, aswell as a display which has an integrated touchscreen on the display asis common with smartphones. It will be appreciated that memory 1203 caninclude one or more memories known in the art including DRAM memory, ROMmemory, and flash memory or other non-volatile (persistent) storage.

The Bluetooth radio system 1205 can include a Bluetooth radiotransceiver 1209 and a Bluetooth controller 1207 which is coupled to theBluetooth transceiver 1209. The Bluetooth controller 1207 is in turncoupled through one or more buses 1211 to the one or more applicationprocessors 1201 and to memory 1203. The application processors 1201 canprovide data to the Bluetooth controller 1207, such as valuesrepresenting wrist states for processing by filter logic which can beimplemented within the Bluetooth controller 1207. For example, theapplication processors can provide, in one embodiment, the last wriststate value from the active watch that was received by the one or moreapplication processors; this last wrist state value can be provided tothe Bluetooth controller 1207 before the application processors enter asleep state.

The Bluetooth transceiver 1209 can be configured to receive one or morewrist states from an active paired watch and one or more wrist statesfrom one or more inactive paired watches and provide these wrist statesto the Bluetooth controller 1207. The Bluetooth controller 1207 can beconfigured, through the filter logic to prevent waking up of the one ormore processors 1201 from one or more sleep states when all of the oneor more inactive paired watches have a wrist state that indicates alower on-wrist confidence level than a most recent wrist state from theactive paired watch. This most recent wrist state of the active watchcan be the last wrist state value of the active watch that was providedby the application processor(s) to the Bluetooth controller 1207 beforethe application processor(s) enter a sleep state. In this way, thefilter logic filters out wrist states which indicate that the currentactive paired watch has remained the active watch as it has continued tohave the highest on-wrist confidence level relative to all other watcheswhich have sent wrist state values. The Bluetooth controller 1207 isalso configured, through the filter logic, to wake up the one or moreapplication processors 1201 from a sleep state when anyone of the one ormore inactive paired watches has a wrist state that indicates a higheron-wrist confidence level than the most recent wrist state from theactive paired watch. This allows the one or more application processorsto remain in a sleep state, which is a reduced power consumption moderelative to a run state of those processors while the Bluetooth radiosystem continues to scan for any possible switches of the pairedwatches. In addition, the Bluetooth controller 1207 also filters outadvertisements from watches that do not have the same advertisingidentifier so that the application processor is not woken up for watchesthat are not paired with the companion device. This can be implementedby having the companion device and the watches that are paired with thecompanion device share the same advertising identifier so that thecompanion device can filter out advertising identifiers contained in theBluetooth advertisements which do not match the shared advertisingidentifier. As noted above, this advertising identifier can be rotatedover time through a known sequence of values at predetermined timesknown to the companion device and all of its paired watches. In oneembodiment, the watches are paired with the companion device through aconventional Bluetooth pairing process.

FIG. 13 shows an example of the filter logic which can be used to filterout all of the situations in which the current active watch continues tohave the highest on-wrist confidence level. In one embodiment, thefilter logic can be configured to receive a binary payload containedwithin the Bluetooth advertisement. As is known in the art, theBluetooth advertisement can include an advertising identifier as well.The binary payload represents one of the possible wrist state valuesthat can be received by the Bluetooth radio 1209 and processed by theBluetooth controller 1207. In particular in this embodiment, the binarypayload which is 00000000 is assigned a wrist state value of zero whilethe binary value of 00000011 is assigned a wrist state value of low andthe binary value of 00001111 is assigned a wrist state value of medium,and the binary value 00111111 is assigned the wrist state value of high.The unused binary values can be used in future implementations in whichadditional wrist state values may be used (such as the extra high wriststate value described herein or a medium high level that can be used inone embodiment only when wrist detect on the companion device is set tooff). If the current active paired watch has a wrist state of medium(shown by reference 1249) then the Bluetooth controller 1207 can beconfigured with filter logic to require a 1 in column 1250 of the binarypayload as shown in FIG. 13. In this way, the filter logic in theBluetooth controller will only assert an interrupt to wake up the one ormore application processors 1201 when a 1 appears within the column 1250in a state where the current active watch has a wrist state of medium(assuming the Bluetooth advertisement also includes the properadvertising identifier which in one embodiment is shared with all pairedwatches in the companion device). If the Bluetooth controller 1207causes the interrupt to be generated to wake up the applicationprocessors 1201, then the one or more application processors do wake upto cause a switch to occur as described herein.

The various embodiments described herein can be implemented in anarchitecture in which only one watch is permitted to be the activewatch. In an alternative embodiment, the various methods and systemsdescribed herein can be used in an architecture which permits multipleactive paired watches. The various embodiments described herein canalternatively use wireless communication systems that are different thanBluetooth (such as WiFi or Zig Bee).

In the embodiments described above, the new active watch is synchronizedwith data, such as health data that originated from the prior activewatch, that is provided from the companion device (such as the sidestore on the companion device). In an alternative embodiment, this datacan be provided to the new active watch from a different source, such asa server coupled to a network or directly from the prior active watch.

FIG. 14 shows one example of a data processing system, which may be usedwith any one of the embodiments described herein. Note that while FIG.14 illustrates various components of a data processing system such as acompanion device or a paired accessory, it is not intended to representany particular architecture or manner of interconnecting the componentsas such details are not germane to this description. It will also beappreciated that consumer electronic devices and other data processingsystems which have fewer components or perhaps more components may alsobe used with one or more embodiments described herein.

As shown in FIG. 14, the computer system 1400, which is a form of a dataprocessing system, includes a bus 1403 which is coupled to one or moremicroprocessor(s) 1405 and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 1407 and volatileRAM 1409 (e.g. DRAM) and a non-volatile memory 1411. The one or moremicroprocessors 1405 are coupled to optional cache 1404. The one or moremicroprocessors 1405 may retrieve stored computer programs instructionsfrom one or more of the non-transitory memories 1407, 1409 and 1411 andexecute the instructions to perform operations described above. Thesememories represent examples of machine readable non-transitory storagemedia that can store or contain computer program instructions which whenexecuted cause a data processing system to perform the one or moremethods described herein. The bus 1403 interconnects these variouscomponents together and also interconnects these components 1405, 1409and 1411 to a display controller and display device 1413 and toperipheral devices such as input/output (I/O) devices 1415 which may beone or more of sensors (such as the sensors 206), mice, touch screens,touch pads, touch sensitive input devices, keyboards, dedicated keys(e.g. buttons for volume or mute or home, etc.) modems, networkinterfaces, Bluetooth radio systems, printers and other devices whichare well known in the art. Typically, the input/output devices 1415 arecoupled to the system through input/output controllers 1417 as is knownin the art. The volatile RAM (Random Access Memory) 1409 is typicallyimplemented as dynamic RAM (DRAM) which requires power continually inorder to refresh or maintain the data in the memory.

The mass storage 1411 is typically a magnetic hard drive or a magneticoptical drive or an optical drive or a DVD RAM or a flash memory orother types of memory system which maintain data (e.g., large amounts ofdata) even after power is removed from the system. Typically, the massstorage 1411 will also be a random access memory although this is notrequired. While FIG. 14 shows that the mass storage 1411 is a localdevice coupled directly to the rest of the components in the dataprocessing system, it will be appreciated that one or more embodimentsmay utilize a non-volatile memory which is remote from the system, suchas a network storage device which is coupled to the data processingsystem through a network interface such as a modem, an Ethernetinterface or a wireless network. The bus 1403 may include one or morebuses connected to each other through various bridges, controllersand/or adapters as is well known in the art.

The present disclosure recognizes that the use of personal informationdata (such as health data collected by one or more watches), in thepresent technology, can be used to the benefit of users. For example,the personal information data can be used to deliver health relatedinformation or targeted content that is of greater interest to the user.Accordingly, use of such personal information data can enable calculatedcontrol of the delivered content. Further, other uses for personalinformation data that benefit the user are also contemplated by thepresent disclosure.

The present disclosure further contemplates that the entitiesresponsible for the collection, analysis, disclosure, transfer, storage,or other use of such personal information data will comply withwell-established privacy policies and/or privacy practices. Inparticular, such entities should implement and consistently use privacypolicies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting orexceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining personalinformation data private and secure. For example, personal informationfrom users should be collected for legitimate and reasonable uses of theentity and not shared or sold outside of those legitimate uses. Further,such collection should occur only after receiving the informed consentof the users. Additionally, such entities would take any needed stepsfor safeguarding and securing access to such personal information dataand ensuring that others with access to the personal information dataadhere to their privacy policies and procedures. Further, such entitiescan subject themselves to evaluation by third parties to certify theiradherence to widely accepted privacy policies and practices.

Despite the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplatesembodiments in which users selectively block the use of, or access to,personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplatesthat hardware and/or software elements can be provided to prevent orblock access to such personal information data. For example, in the caseof health information or advertisement delivery services, the presenttechnology can be configured to allow users to select to “opt in” or“opt out” of participation in the collection of personal informationdata during registration for services. In another example, users canselect not to provide location information for targeted content deliveryservices. In yet another example, users can select to not provideprecise location information, but permit the transfer of location zoneinformation. In yet another example, users can select not to providepertinent health information such as weight, personal characteristics,traits, etc.

In the foregoing specification, specific exemplary embodiments have beendescribed. It will be evident that various modifications may be made tothose embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scopeset forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are,accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than arestrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storingexecutable program instructions which when executed by a processingsystem cause the processing system to perform operations on anelectronic device that is associated with multiple wearable accessories,the operations comprising: scanning for one or more on-body states fromone or more associated accessories; determining, based on a differencein on-body states, that a switch between accessories has occurred, theswitch being to a second accessory from a first accessory; andtransmitting synchronization data to the second accessory in response todetermining that the second accessory has established a communicationconnection for data exchange with the electronic device.
 2. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium as in claim 1, the operationsadditionally comprising transmitting the synchronization dataautomatically to the second accessory in response to detecting theswitch to the second accessory.
 3. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium as in claim 1, the operations additionally comprising: starting atimer in response to determining that the switch between accessories hasoccurred; ceasing, during a period of time before the timer expires,scanning for on-body states of other accessories; determining, duringthe period of time before the timer expires, whether the secondaccessory has established the communication connection for data exchangewith the electronic device; and reverting, in response to expiration ofthe time, to scanning for one or more on-body states from the one ormore associated accessories, wherein the one or more on-body statesindicate a state of a position of a wearable accessory relative to abody of a user of the electronic device.
 4. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium as in claim 3, wherein the scanning includesscanning for Bluetooth advertisements which include the one or moreon-body states.
 5. The non-transitory machine-readable medium as inclaim 4, wherein the first accessory and the second accessory use a sameadvertising identifier.
 6. The non-transitory machine-readable medium asin claim 1, wherein the electronic device transmits synchronization datawhile the electronic device is locked.
 7. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium as in claim 1, wherein the electronic device isone of a smartphone or a tablet computer and the electronic device has auser account associated with the user account of the multiple wearableaccessories.
 8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium as in claim7, wherein the electronic device includes at least one of a cellulartelephone transceiver, a Wi-Fi transceiver, or a Bluetooth transceiver,and wherein the electronic device is paired through Bluetooth with thefirst accessory and the second accessory.
 9. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium as in claim 1, wherein the first accessory orthe second accessory is one of or a combination of two or more of: awatch; a GPS tracker; a fitness tracker; glasses; a head mounteddisplay; jewelry; shoes; clothing; a heart monitor; a health sensor; aglucose monitor; and an audio accessory.
 10. A method performed on anelectronic device that is associated with multiple wearable accessories,the method comprising: scanning for one or more on-body states from oneor more associated accessories; determining, based on a difference inon-body states, that a switch between accessories has occurred, theswitch being to a second accessory from a first accessory; andtransmitting synchronization data to the second accessory in response todetermining that the second accessory has established a communicationconnection for data exchange with the electronic device.
 11. The methodas in claim 10, additionally comprising transmitting the synchronizationdata automatically to the second accessory in response to detecting theswitch to the second accessory.
 12. The method as in claim 10,additionally comprising: starting a timer in response to determiningthat the switch between accessories has occurred; ceasing, during aperiod of time before the timer expires, scanning for on-body states ofother accessories; determining, during the period of time before thetimer expires, whether the second accessory has established thecommunication connection for data exchange with the electronic device;and reverting, in response to expiration of the time, to scanning forone or more on-body states from the one or more associated accessories,wherein the one or more on-body states indicate a state of a position ofa wearable accessory relative to a body of a user of the electronicdevice.
 13. The method as in claim 12, wherein the scanning includesscanning for Bluetooth advertisements which include the one or moreon-body states.
 14. The method as in claim 13, wherein the firstaccessory and the second accessory use a same advertising identifier.15. The method as in claim 10, wherein the electronic device transmitssynchronization data while the electronic device is locked.
 16. Themethod as in claim 10, wherein the electronic device is one of asmartphone or a tablet computer and the electronic device has a useraccount associated with the user account of the multiple wearableaccessories.
 17. The method as in claim 16, wherein the electronicdevice includes at least one of a cellular telephone transceiver, aWi-Fi transceiver, or a Bluetooth transceiver, and wherein theelectronic device is paired through Bluetooth with the first accessoryand the second accessory.
 18. The method as in claim 10, wherein thefirst accessory or the second accessory is one of or a combination oftwo or more of: a watch; a GPS tracker; a fitness tracker; glasses; ahead mounted display; jewelry; shoes; clothing; a heart monitor; ahealth sensor; a glucose monitor; and an audio accessory.
 19. A dataprocessing system comprising: memory to store instructions; one or moreprocessors to execute instructions, wherein the instructions cause theone or more processors to perform operations comprising: scanning forone or more on-body states from one or more associated accessories;determining, based on a difference in on-body states, that a switchbetween accessories has occurred, the switch being to a second accessoryfrom a first accessory; starting a timer in response to determining thatthe switch between accessories has occurred; ceasing, during a period oftime before the timer expires, scanning for on-body states of otheraccessories; determining, during the period of time before the timerexpires, whether the second accessory has established a communicationconnection for data exchange with an electronic device; and transmittingsynchronization data to the second accessory in response to determiningthat the second accessory has established the communication connectionfor data exchange with the electronic device.
 20. The data processingsystem as in claim 19, the operations additionally comprising:reverting, in response to expiration of the timer, to scanning for oneor more on-body states from the one or more associated accessories,wherein the one or more on-body states indicate a state of a position ofa wearable accessory relative to a body of a user of the electronicdevice.
 21. The data processing system as in claim 19, wherein theelectronic device is one of a smartphone or a tablet computer, theelectronic device includes at least one of a cellular telephonetransceiver, a Wi-Fi transceiver, or a Bluetooth transceiver, theelectronic device is paired through Bluetooth with the first accessoryand the second accessory, and the electronic device has a user accountassociated with the user account of the one or more associatedaccessories.
 22. The data processing system as in claim 19, wherein thefirst accessory or the second accessory is one of or a combination oftwo or more of: a watch; a GPS tracker; a fitness tracker; glasses; ahead mounted display; jewelry; shoes; clothing; a heart monitor; ahealth sensor; a glucose monitor; and an audio accessory.